


Hold On, I Still Need You

by Cat_she_ra_bags



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: AU: saving adora instead of catra this time, Catra Redemption, Eventual Smut, Gore and Violence, Hurt/Comfort, i swear there’s a happy ending, theres going to be a lot of emotions in this one, trigger warnings will be listed in notes so READ THE NOTES
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25216297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_she_ra_bags/pseuds/Cat_she_ra_bags
Summary: So Adora dies, and Catra goes on a mission to revive her with the princess alliance and shadow weaver.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), literally every relationship that’s on the show
Comments: 1
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know some don’t like shadow weaver but she gets what she deserves so please stick around. I also haven’t posted my fic before so can y’all leave constructive feedback when you feel like it. I’m always looking to improve.

“ADORA! NO!” Catra yells, but it looks like Adora can’t hear her. Adora keeps walking away from Catra, Catra reaching a hand out to grab her, but for some reason she can’t move. Closing her eyes, Catra tries to get a grip so she can move her feet, but when she opens them there is nothing but darkness around her. “What’s going on?” Catra asks herself. “Adora where are you?” Catra can’t move, and she begins to cry.

“CATRA get up already, today is the day! We need to go!” Glimmer says while banging on the door. Catra jolts up, she looks around noticing she is in Brightmoon and feels the sweat on her back, a tear going down her face. “Hang on Sparkles! Give me a minute to get ready” Catra says back as Glimer peaks into the room. “I left the robes on the sink in the bathroom for you,” says Glimmer as she closes the door and goes to sit on the bed. 

Walking into the bathroom, Catra sees the black robes; well, at least they cut a hole in the back for my tail Catra thinks to herself as she pulls the robes over her body. “Sparkles, do I really have to wear this? I don’t even want to go!” Catra says, Glimmer turns around when she hears a crack in the way Catra spoke. She turns to see Catra crying, “Catra, I know this isn’t easy, and as much as I don’t want to admit it, we have to do this to move on,” Glimmer says holding a hand out to Catra showing that she’s ready to teleport. Catra hesitates, thinking this won’t be real if she just doesn’t go. “Ready?” Glimmer asks, Catra nods and then in the blink of an eye they’re back on the cliff where Horde Prime was killed.

There’s a different feel to the air here, even though the ground is covered in grass and beautiful flowers, it still isn’t the same. Catra’s eyes dart around looking for Adora, but then her eyes fall when she finds her. “Come on,” Glimmer leads Catra to the part of the grass that has chairs and a block of ice sitting in the middle of the chairs. They are greeted by the other members of the Princess alliance all adorned in black robes as well. Catra glances around to see who all is there as she stands in an area far away from everyone. She looks at Bow and Glimmer staring over at her and whispering about gods knows what. Mermista, Frosta, and Sea Hawk are all glaring at Catra as well, and the only people who don't seem to be staring at her are Perfuma, Scorpia, Netossa, and Spinnerella. Scorpia smiles and waves over to Catra, Catra smiles back but doesn’t want to go over out of fear they may not want her there. “All right everyone, let’s go ahead and get started,” Catra jumps at the voice that comes from right behind her, her tail puffing up at the surprise. She turns to see Micah. 

Walking to her chair Catra feels a sense of dread wash over her, she can’t stop shaking, and her eyes begin to well up with tears. Taking her seat, Catra looks up to the block of ice to see Adora in her usual stupid red jacket and peaceful sleeping look. “I know today is hard on us all, and we are here to mourn Adora, She-ra, a beloved friend,” Micah starts and Catra can’t help but freeze. Micah’s voice is beginning to sound distorted as Catra flashes back to the Heart of Etheria:

“Don’t you get it! I love you! I always have! So please! Just this once, Stay!” Those words ringing in her head, Adora waking up and Catra felt so much relief. “I love you too,” Adora tells Catra. This made her heart flutter and she only felt gravity pull her towards Adora’s lips, and this kiss was everything Catra imagined it to be. She didn’t want to let go, but she knew there was a job that needed to be done. Adora ended up being the first to pull away, she gets up and transforms into She-ra. The failsafe on Adora’s chest lights up and they are engulfed in a bright light. Once it passes, Adora and Catra look at one another with a smile as the Heart of Etheria slowly turns dark, it’s rendered useless. Catra smiles putting her head to Adora’s, “it's almost over, we just need to take down-“ Adora suddenly stops and backs away slowly from Catra. “Adora? What’s wrong?” asked Catra. Adora begins to cough, trying to cover her mouth, but blood seeps out of her fingers. “ADORA! What is happening?!” Catra yelled with tears running down her face. Adora looking scared for a second, then her expression turns to a calm one. All of a sudden Catra can see a green line forming on Adora’s face as she falls forward towards Catra. “Did you really think a silly little kiss could stop my poison?” Catra’s eyes widen as she turns to find Prime standing above her laughing. Catra grows angry, and she lunges at him tackling him to the ground. All Catra could see was red. Primes looked surprised that he was on the floor, but that didn’t stop him from picking Catra up by her throat. He gets up from the floor, “oh little sister, did you really think you could kill me? I have lived for millennia, there is nothing you can do to stop me!” Prime laughs menacingly at her, but it’s stopped by Catra’s claws slicing open his throat. The blood spilled out so fast there was no way for Prime to switch his consciousness to a different body. 

Catra runs to Adora who’s panting heavily, the green poison spreading further around her face and body. “Don’t worry Adora, we’ll get you some help! I promise!” Catra choked out through tears. Adora lifted her hand up to Catra to wipe her eyes, “it's…okay…Catra…It’ll be…too…late…” Adora struggled to breathe then began to cough. Catra begins sobbing harder, “DAMMIT ADORA! WHY?!?! Why do you always have to be the hero?” Adora just smiles up at Catra, “I’m sorry…Catra” Adora’s last breath and tears escape her body and Catra feels her go limp in her arms. “Nooooooooooooooooooo,” Catra screams out as Glimmer, Bow, and the rest of the alliance teleported into the heart. The last thing Catra can remember from that day was Glimmer teleporting them back to Brightmoon and fighting with Frosta about whether they should freeze Adora or not, she lost that argument in the end.

Catra snaps back into the moment when Micah asks if she would like to say anything, but all she could do was cry, so Glimmer took over for her. “Adora-“ she began but was interrupted by the shadows that began to travel under her feet. She followed them to the font of the ice block to see Shadow Weaver appear with her hand touching the ice. Catra looks up, eyes widened in denial. “But-But I thought-WE SAW YOU DIE!” Catra yells at Shadow Weaver. “Insolent child” Shadow Weaver began, “did you really think I would die that easily?” she asks Catra. Catra shrinks down in her chair, wiping tears from her eyes, “I was hoping you would, but I shouldn’t be surprised,” Catra grumbled back. Glimmer teleports to Catra, protecting her from Shadow Weaver. “What do you want?” Glimmer asks, to which Shadow Weaver replies: “I only want to help,” “and how do you plan to do that?” inquired Micah. “Well, you see, I know how to revive Adora, but we’ll need specific materials, and I cannot gather them alone.” 

Everyone’s eyes widen in disbelief, and Glimmer begins to talk with everyone away from Shadow Weaver and Catra. Catra yells “I’m doing it. Got it Sparkles?” Glimmer turns around, “Alone? well, that isn’t something we can agree on.” Catra thought she was about to get yelled at but instead Glimmer teleported closer to her and asked, “how about we all help?” Catra can’t help but want to do it herself, but something inside her tells her to let them help: “Sure, When do we start?” Catra asks, “Tomorrow,” Shadow Weaver says.

Everyone returned to Brightmoon to begin planning their next move while Catra took a walk with Melog around the castle.


	2. Strife and Strides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team is back in Brightmoon for planning, and Catra and Glimmer get many feelings out in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mention of abuse, slight self harm

The gardens at Brightmoon castle have always been peaceful, and Catra began to find herself and Melog here a lot lately. Was it the quiet that was enticing? Or the warmth that was always present whenever she and Melog would sit on the benches overlooking the courtyard? It didn’t matter to Catra because it was the best place to be alone. 

“…tra..?” 

“Cat…a?”

“CATRA” Catra finally stirs from her thoughts to see Melog looking up at her, their hue a grey blueish color. “Catra, are you okay?” Melog asked. Catra sat there for a minute thinking about her response, silence filled their air, and a few minutes go by when Melog asks again: “Catra? Are you okay? You do not have to talk about it if you do not want to, but I am concerned for your well being.” Catra moves her hand to Melog’s fur to pet them, their hue turning back to its normal light blue color, “it’s alright Melog, it’s just been a really long day and I really miss Adora.” 

“I miss her too…” Melog says solemnly, a minute going by and they speak again: “are you sure you wish to work with this Shadow Weaver? Is there not another person or way to help Adora?” Catra’s fur begins to stand on end, her tail puffing up at the thought of Adora needing Shadow Weaver’s help. Instead Catra steeled herself and looked to Melog, “listen, I’m a very cautious person when it comes to Shadow Weaver. I would much rather be there to watch her every move to make sure she doesn’t do anything to hurt Adora than to sit idly by and do nothing.” Melog nods and leaves it there.

Meanwhile, back in the war room, Glimmer, Micah, Bow, Spinnerella, Netossa, Perfuma, Scorpia, Mermista, and the others were discussing how to proceed with Shadow Weaver. 

“Alright everyone, lets be quiet and begin.” Glimmer says looking over to Shadow Weaver to begin her explanation on how to save Adora. Shadow weaver stands up form her seat looking around the room at everyone and begins: “to save Adora we must gain access to her she-ra form; the only problem is that we do not have her sword. So, we will have to get magic similar to the first ones to mimic the sword. I will need help going to find a place that Adora’s magical presence is the strongest-“ “you mean like the beacon?” Catra interrupted her as she walked into the war room. Shadow Weaver sighs, “you know, you really could be here on time for once instead of walking around nonchalant, or do you not want to save Adora?” Catra scoffing and giving Shadow Weaver a glare that could have shot daggers through Shadow Weaver’s head. “Look, I’m just asking a question okay?” “Yes, this beacon you’re talking about would help,” Shadow Weaver replies in the most patronizing tone.

Glimmer looks over at Catra with a grimace as the silence in the room grows. “Continue,” Glimmer says. “Right, not only do we need her magical presence, but we will need to get one of those pods that prime had on his ship, so we will need to go to space and get one,” Shadow Weaver continues, “and before any of you ask, we need one from Prime because it will be the most advanced we can have.” Catra flinches at the mention of Horde Prime, that man was nothing but vile to her. Melog’s red hue gave away how Catra felt in the room. “Is there a problem?” Shadow Weaver hissed, “no, no problem here,” Catra spat out while calming herself so that Melog would calm down too. 

“Great,” says Glimmer, “is that all?” Shadow Weaver nodded and Glimmer turned to everyone in the war room. “Alright, you all heard her. Get some rest, we begin tomorrow,” Glimmer commands, “oh, and Catra, I need to talk to you after this.” 

Everyone left the war room except for Catra and Glimmer. Glimmer looked at her with a worried gaze, and Catra’s stomach dropped for some reason.

“What’s wrong Catra?” Glimmer asked.

“Nothing, Sparkles, just-never mind,” Catra says looking down to the ground. 

“Look, I know things are tough right now, but do you really want to work with Shadow Weaver? You could leave it to me and-“ Glimmer was stopped by the sudden angry look Catra had darted over to her.

“NO. DO NOT TELL ME TO STAY BEHIND. I refuse to let that evil old hag be anywhere near Adora. She’s up to something and I’m going to make sure she doesn’t get away with it.” Catra yells at first but comes down to a stern voice, tears are welling in her eyes.  
Glimmer walks over to Catra reaching a handout, but Catra jolts away from it.

“Catra, you aren’t okay. I know you aren’t because you’ve been on edge so much lately. You’re even thinking Shadow Weaver is out for something bad even though she’s trying to save Adora this time. Have you been sleeping? You look tired too.” Glimmer says noting the almost black bags under Catra’s eyes. As soon as Glimmer asked that, shock hit Catra, which soon turned to anger.

“Why do you care?” Catra snarled at Glimmer.

“You’re my friend Catra…” Catra scoffs, “listen, Sparkles, I don’t care what you think you know. You do not know Shadow Weaver. like I do. She’s evil. She only ever hurts people, okay? Just because you live in the land of sparkles and happiness doesn’t mean you can trust everyone.”  
Glimmer finally gets angry at Catra and suddenly Glimmer mumbled something but Catra couldn’t hear it. “What did you say?” Catra asked demandingly.  
Glimmer looks up with tears in her eyes, “you think I don’t know that I can’t trust everyone? Look at you Catra, I trust you and you’re the reason my mother is gone!” Catra’s face contorted in a mix of pain and shock. 

“Wait…what?” Catra says slowly, “what do you mean?” 

“Uh, the portal?” Glimmer says through her tears, “my mother is gone because she took Adora’s place!” 

Now Glimmer had really done it, Catra felt an anger welling up inside her as she choked the words out, “what do you mean your mom took Adora’s place?” 

“Catra, when the portal was closed, Adora was supposed to be stuck between the realities because she pulled the sword out, but my mother went and did it instead,” Glimmer sighed, tears running down her cheek as she choked back sobs. 

Catra’s blood went cold, she felt herself losing her balance, “are you telling me not only did I almost really kill Adora, but I….” Catra trailed off tears in her eyes. Glimmer wiped her tears and continued, “look, I need you to understand that if I can sit here and trust you even after you took my mother away from me, then you should be able to trust Shadow Weaver right now.” 

Catra was really sobbing now, her hands covering her face, claws out and she raked down really fast, cutting open some of her skin on her cheeks. “You…how can you still trust me after what I did? How can ANY OF YOU TRUST ME?” Catra yelled in between sobs. “I can’t…how can you not want to kill me?” Catra says, Glimmer recoiled a bit at that, “well, I mean, I kind of did back at that horde base, remember?” 

Catra chuckled a bit, “look, you don’t get it, the things Shadow Weaver did to me and Adora…I just can’t trust her after that.” 

“Well you’re going to have to. So, get over it.” Glimmer says as the words hit Catra’s ears like venom, causing her ears to fall to her head. Instead Catra lunges at Glimmer and they fall to the ground. 

“You don’t get it; she didn’t just verbally hurt us. She’s erased our memories before, she’s tried to kill me I don’t know how many times! The way she made Adora-“ Catra chokes up, her throat feeling like it’s on fire, but she continues, “she made me and Adora feel like we were worthless, okay? She left me so many times. She treated Adora like a door mat. You can’t even begin to comprehend…that pain…” Catra is finally at a full sob, tears streaming out of her eyes, she lets go of the weight she’s been holding and her head flops down onto Glimmer’s chest. 

“I’m so sorry, Catra.” Glimmer says.

“I’ve done horrible things, and I know that. I don’t deserve anyone’s forgiveness…” Catra trailed off muffled on Glimmer’s shirt.

“Everyone deserves a second chance.” Glimmer whispers as she wraps her arms around Catra for a hug. Catra recoiled a bit, but finally gives in when Glimmer squeezes tighter. This was the first time since Adora was encased in that ice block that she had cried. So, she cried, and they laid there for what felt like hours. 

Glimmer finally broke the silence, “Catra, I know things aren’t easy, and we all miss Adora, but if there’s a way to save her, we have to do it.”

Catra looks up, “I know, Glimmer.” 

“And we have to-Wait, did you just call me by my name?” Glimmer says with a surprised gaze welling up with tears.

“Don’t make a big deal about it, okay.” Catra says with flushed cheeks.

“See, I told you everyone deserves a second chance!” Glimmer says hugging the feline tighter again.

“Also, I know it’s still a sore spot, but maybe you should use this second chance to mend things with everyone you’ve hurt.” Glimmer said cautiously.

“I know it isn’t enough, and it won’t bring your mom back, but I’m sorry for everything I did. I was caught up in my pain of losing Adora and Shadow Weaver tricking me again that I just let it take over and turn me into a monster. I want to make it up to you and everyone else.” Catra says wiping tears from her face.

“Well, I don’t fully forgive you right now, but this is definitely a start,” glimmer says, “so let’s just get Adora back, and then we can go from there. Okay?” 

“Okay,” Catra says with a shy smile.

They hugged and Catra went to her room with Melog, they hopped into bed. Catra couldn’t sleep again, she was afraid to see Adora’s pained expression. She decided to walk around the castle and found herself in the chamber where they had kept Adora.

Catra walked up slowly to the ice block and placed her hand where Adora’s cheek was. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll fix this. I promise.” Catra says with tears running down her face.

She sat down by the ice block and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Memories and the Beacon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is a bit longer than the others, and I'm hoping it doesn't feel forced. I'm always here for what I can do to make this better so feel free to let me know! 
> 
> TW: There is some fighting in here and mentions of abuse.

“Catra” 

“Catraaaaa…” the voice Catra could hear was warm and sweet, she wanted to stay like this forever, wrapped in the arms of the person calling her name.

“Catra, come on, it’s time to get up.” Catra opened her eyes to see long blonde hair in front of her face, she looks up to see Adora smiling at her, and her heart begins to flutter. “Good morning,” Catra says as she cuddles into Adora’s chest. They lay there for a few minutes and suddenly Catra hears:

“Mooooooomssssssss” and a sudden weight is on Catra’s body, she looks up to see the short blond hair and heterochromic eyes of a young kid. Adora begins to laugh, “hi Finn! Are you ready for todays adventure?” Catra’s eyes widen.

That's right how could I forget we have a child? Catra thought to herself.

This must be bliss because Catra never thought this would happen after all she has ever done to hurt Adora, but here they were: Adora and their child. “What’s the plan for today?” Catra asks, suddenly everything is bright, and they are in the Whispering Woods. 

“Be careful Finn, we don’t want you to get hurt if you keep running so fast.” Adora called out. Catra looked down to see Adora holding her hand, her thumb brushing the top of her hand. 

“Hey Catra?” 

“What is it, Adora?” 

“This has always been our dream, hasn’t it?”

Catra blushes at that, looking down she responds with “yeah, it’s definitely been my dream.”

“Well, maybe it can actually happen one day,” Catra slows her walk to a halt, 

“What do you mean one day? It’s right-“ Catra looked up to see darkness all around her. She looks frantically to her side to see Adora encased in ice.

“No, no, no, no, wait! I-“ suddenly Catra was falling

Catra bolted up with a cry, sweat running down her back and face. She looks around to see she’s in the chamber where Adora’s ice-encased body was being kept. She turns slowly to see Adora’s face.

She looks so peaceful. Catra thought to herself, her ears drooping down to her head, tail falling between her legs. 

“Please hang on a little longer, Adora.” Catra whispers.  
“You know, you should probably not sleep in here if you’re going to have nightmares around her.” Catra’s fur and tail puffed up at the hiss of that voice. It could only be one insufferable witch.

Shadow Weaver. 

“And who are you to decide what I do anymore?” Catra hissed as she turned around.

“I’m simply saying that if you are going to have nightmares to sleep somewhere else, your bad…attitude is going to disrupt the magic and ruin our chances of saving Adora.” Shadow Weaver had picked Catra up at this point and tossed her to the side. 

Catra hit the ground with a thud, and now she was really angry.

“How do you know your negative attitude isn’t the one hindering us?” Catra snapped as she stood up.

Shadow Weaver turned and encased Catra in a black glowing magic. Catra could feel her bones screaming to be released from the grip. “You’re as insolent as always, Catra. I am trying to HELP you, and you’re only going to hinder me if you act this way,” Shadow Weaver’s words hit Catra as if she had been bitten by a venomous snake. Shadow Weaver was about to continue speaking when Catra’s tail grabbed at her ankle and pulled up, throwing Shadow Weaver off balance. 

Catra suddenly was on top of Shadow Weaver, hissing, her fur standing on end. 

“Listen you witch, I’m here because I know you’re up to no good. I will make sure that you don’t take any of Adora’s magic, and that once she’s better, you leave…for good.”

Shadow Weaver grew angry and threw Catra off of her, hurling magic towards Catra. Catra jumps over the ball coming at her, to which she kicks off the wall and slashes Shadow Weavers mask.

“Wow, de ja vu, huh?” Catra snorted as Shadow Weaver fell to the ground.

“Such INSOLENCE.” Shadow Weaver got up to lunge at Catra but was pinned to the ground when Catra jumped on top of her.

“You ALWAYS treated me as lesser. You ALWAYS threatened to get rid of me. You ALWAYS out Adora first but it was only ever to EXPLOIT her! I have some news for you Shadow Weaver: ADORA ISN’T YOUR PLAYTHING ANYMORE,” Catra felt a burning sensation in her throat as she continued, “and I will be damned if I EVER let you treat her as such again. You have NO POWER over us anymore. You may have been our parental figure, but you never a mother to us.” Tears begin streaming down Catra’s face, and all she can see is red again, like the time she killed Prime. 

Catra bares her claws and reaches for Shadow Weaver’s neck, “maybe I should just end you myself to make sure you NEVER come back…” 

“CATRA STOP IT,” suddenly Catra flinches and feels dizzy. She’s now in front of Brightmoon castle with Glimmer looking down at her angrily. 

“Catra, if you kill her right now, then we will never be able to save Adora! We talked about this LAST NIGHT.” Glimmer’s voice was angry, but Catra could also tell she was sad because her eyes were welling up with tears.

“I-I just can’t stand her okay! She had the AUDACITY to tell me I’M being a hindrance and we haven’t even started yet!” Catra yells with tears running down her face. 

“From now on, I will be with you when Shadow Weaver is around, okay?” Glimmer says as she places a hand on Catra’s shoulder. 

“Okay, Sparkles.” Catra replied while wiping tears from her face.

Back in the war room everyone was getting ready to head to the beacon.

“Alright, so the party heading with Shadow Weaver and Catra to the beacon will be Bow, Entrapta, and Glimmer,” Micah continues “And the rest of us will stay behind and keep an eye on Adora.”

“We may need more muscle than just us four though, what if we take Scorpia too?” Glimmer asks looking at Catra as if pushing her to talk with Scorpia. 

Catra hides her face by looking down when she hears Scorpia say “awesome! The Best Friend Trio is back!”

“It’s settled then, Scorpia will also go with you.” Micah says.

“We leave in an hour!” Glimmer says as everyone nods in agreement.

Catra walks off but is stopped by Perfuma, “Catra, can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Sure…” Catra says hesitantly.

Perfuma and Catra head out to the garden, Catra feels her fur standing on end as the anxiety in her stomach grows larger. Suddenly Catra is grounded when Melog runs themselves up against Catra’s leg.

“Do not worry, I do not sense hostility from her,” Melog says.

“Thanks buddy,” Catra whispers rubbing their fur.

They finally stop at the bench that Catra and Melog normally lounge around on, and Perfuma motions to Catra to sit.

“I called you out here because I wanted to see if you were doing okay. I know things have been rough and I’m probably not your first choice to speak with, but we need to make sure you have a level head through this.” Perfuma sat there eagerly looking for Catra’s response.

“Did Sparkles tell you what happened this morning?” Catra asked hesitantly, Perfuma nodding to confirm.  
“Look, if you want to clear your head before you all leave, I’m here to listen.” 

“Thanks, but I think I’m okay for now,” Catra replies as she stands up from the bench to leave.

“Wait!” Perfuma pleads, “I just have one favor okay?”

“What is it?” Catra asks with one eyebrow cocked.

“Please look out for Scorpia out there.”

Catra smiled, “will do, princess.”

Finally at the beacon, Catra had been on edge the entire way there, “Okay, what do we need to go?” Catra asks.

“We need to find the heart of this place, this will have the abundance of Adora’s magic,” Shadow Weaver tells them.

“Alright everyone, grab on!” Glimmer says. Everyone gathers around glimmer, Scorpia had found a spot next to Catra. Within a blink of an eye they were inside the first ones ruin, and Catra still wasn’t used to the feeling of teleporting. 

“You okay, Wildcat?” Scorpia extended one of her claws out to Catra and smiled. Catra takes the help and smiles “I’m alright now.” There was a lingering feeling of guilt going through Catra, she felt she never deserved Scorpia’s help, not after how she treated her.

The group walked to the middle of the chamber where they looked for the entrance to the deepest parts of the ruins. Glimmer walked up, and that familiar voice “What is your query?” echoed through the chamber.

“We’re friends of Mara,” Glimmer says, and a door opens behind the hologram.

“it’s really weird being back here,” Glimmer says looking over at Catra.

“Listen, let’s just find what we’re looking for and go, this place is creepy,” Bow says.

Walking down the corridor, suddenly everyone is split off from one another. Bow, Glimmer, and Shadow Weaver are all together while Entrapta, Catra, and Scorpia are together. 

“Wow! I never would have expected the corridor to do this! I have to collect more data on this!” Entrapta squeaks as she starts climbing the walls with her hair.

“Wait! Entrapta!” Catra yells after her, but it’s too late, Entrapta has already left. “Guess we better just move on until we find Entrapta and the others,” Scorpia says.

Catra feels a heavy air in the room, anxiety plaguing her as she realizes that she was alone with Scorpia. Was this going to be a good time to try and talk to her about everything? Maybe things will be great, and she’ll forgive me. 

Of course she will, it’s Scorpia, she’s easy to talk with. 

But what if she doesn’t? 

Catra keeps going back and forth within herself; as she and Scorpia were walking down the corridor, they suddenly noticed the area change to the Fight Zone. The scene before them? Catra zapping Entrapta: “Do you want to be next?”

Those words echoed in Catra’s ears; her eyes widened when Scorpia looks back at her with a pained expression. 

“Scorpia, I-“ Catra was stopped by the room turning red and a voice saying, “Intruder detected,” suddenly they were surrounded by those annoying mecha-spiders that had attacked her and Adora years ago. 

Scorpia grabbed Catra and threw her over her shoulder, she began running but they were slammed by a spider’s web. This is it, isn’t it? Catra thinks to herself. 

Catra takes her claws and cuts herself out of the web just in time to see another spider about to eat an unconscious Scorpia.

“Scorpia!” Catra lunges at the spider and rips out the tech from the mecha-spider’s eyes. The spider swings with Catra trying to get her off of it. Catra keeps taking out the mecha-spider’s tech. It finally stops moving and Catra runs over to Scorpia. 

“Scorpia! Scorpia wake up!” Catra shook Scorpia.

“ngh...” Scorpia’s eyes opened slowly. Catra’s eyes widened as she hugged Scorpia, tears running down her face. “Catra? What’s wrong?” Scorpia wrapped her arms around Catra. “I thought you were badly hurt,” Catra let go of Scorpia to wipe her tears away. She looks at Scorpia and takes a deep breath. 

“Scorpia…About what we saw in the corridor just now…” Catra hesitated, and just before she could begin again, Scorpia spoke up:

“Look, Catra, I know things weren’t good for you when that happened. I know that that wasn’t you, and-“ 

“Scorpia, I-I just needed to tell you that I never should have treated you that way, it doesn’t matter what was going on. I just shouldn’t have pushed you away like that.” Scorpia smiled at Catra, “Wildcat, you taught me a valuable lesson about friendship. Sometimes you have to let it go to grow as a person. Because of you, Perfuma and I are together. I’ve reconnected with the black garnet, and I have so many friends.” Catra smiled and said “At least some good came from the things I did. I can only hope that I can work to be your friend this time.”

“I would love that, Catra.” Scorpia said sweeping Catra up in a hug with some tears streaming down her face. 

After wondering around for a while Catra and Scorpia had finally found Shadow Weaver, Bow, Glimmer, and Entrapta. 

“Catra!” Entrapta yells in excitement, “Look! I found so much about the first ones here!” 

Catra smiles at Entrapta, and Glimmer walks over to Catra to wrap an arm around her.

“You okay?” Glimmer asked.

“Well, these annoying spiders tried to kill us, but we’re okay.” 

Shadow Weaver stopped walking. “So, are we going to actually work, or will you be acting like children?” Shadow Weavers words make Catra hiss. Sighing, Catra leans on the wall to which she somehow falls through. 

Shadow Weaver looks at Catra. She no longer had a mask that she could hide behind since Catra basically shattered it in their fight earlier, so Catra could see her widened eyes at the view behind her. Looking behind her Catra saw a big blue room. It was full of first ones tech, but it also had a familiar scent. 

Catra began to sniff around the room, walking towards what seemed to be the main control panel for the room. There was writing she couldn’t read on the wall. The scent she got was the strongest here, and it made her feel warm and happy. 

“This room is it,” Catra said, her voice breaking a bit, “this is where Adora spent the most time.”

“What makes you so sure?” Shadow Weaver asked 

“Because my nose can smell her scent, how else?” Catra snapped back at her, “wait shouldn’t you be able to sense her magic?” Catra cocked an eyebrow when she asked. Shadow Weaver didn't say anything. Shadow Weaver walked up to the main control panel and took out a bag. She grabbed some of the first ones tech and put it in the bag.

Afterwards, Shadow Weaver does her magic circle drawings to collect Adora’s magical essence from the air. “Alright, we can go now.”

Everyone made it back to Brightmoon, and Catra stopped Scorpia and lead her to the garden. 

“I just wanted to make sure that you know I was saying I’m sorry for the way I have treated you, and if you’ll let me, I want to do something to make it up to you.” Catra says reaching for Scorpia’s claw.

“Hmm…okay, I see what you mean,” Scorpia was thinking for a minute, “if you want to make it up to me, then just keep doing what you’re doing to make up with people and to help with getting Adora cured, sound good?”

“Sounds good.” Catra replied with a smile.

They parted ways and Catra went to the chamber Adora was at. Melog and Catra sat down by the ice capsule holding Adora. Melog fell asleep on Catra, and Catra was looking at the ceiling.

“Hey Adora. I have so much to tell you about today, and I think you’ll be proud to know that we’re one step closer to curing you.” Catra looked over her shoulder hoping Adora would look at her and smile, when she didn’t Catra felt a pang in her chest. Catra felt something warm drip down her cheek, and she realized it was a tear.

Catra sniffled and continued, “you would also be happy to hear that so far I’ve worked on strengthening my relationships and apologizing to people…even Sparkles has been checking in on me since you’ve been gone.”

Catra could hear it now, Adora would most likely smile and hug her, telling her how proud of her she is. 

“You know, Adora, when things get better, I want to have a life with you…I want to…you know, live with you and stuff. So, no matter how long this takes…I’ll wait for you..”

Catra’s eyes were getting heavy as she mumbled “I…love you…Ador…a” and finally drifted to sleep.


	4. In Between the Spaces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mentions of abuse

“I love you…” “I love...” Wait, what is that sound? Eyes dart open looking around frantically only to see a dark room. Suddenly a voice booms through the area: “Do you really think they can save you?” Adora looked down only to see herself encased in ice. “What is going on? How’d I get here?” Suddenly she hears a voice echo through the dark area.  
_______________

“Look, how much longer is this going to take. Why haven’t we left to get the other items so that we can get the poison out of Adora?” Catra was snarling at Glimmer and Shadow Weaver while pacing in front of Adora’s ice encased body. 

“Catra, it isn’t that simple, Entrapta needs to fix the ship and the rest of us need to prepare.” Glimmer cocked an eyebrow and stepped towards Catra, “Why are you being so impatient? You know we only have one shot at this.”

Catra’s ears shifted down to her head, almost as if they were trying to recede into her, “look…there’s just…I’m just trying to keep my promise okay.”

Shadow Weaver interjected: “Catra, magic takes some time, alright?” There was a sickening sweet tone in it, but Catra could tell it was fake and it made her sick to her stomach.

“If Adora leaves us. I swear to the gods I am going to kill you, Shadow Weaver.” Catra snarled  
_________________

Adora heard those words and suddenly she had tears dripping down her face. I don’t want to leave everyone. Those words echoed through the space she was in, and suddenly a sickening laugh filled the air again.

“Adora, you do know that this poison was created by YOUR people, right?” 

Adora turned around to see Horde Prime standing behind her, she quickly jumped back but fell down due to the pain searing in her body.

Groaning Adora looks at Prime: “Aren’t you dead? Why are you here!” 

“You tell me.”  
___________________

Catra watched as Shadow Weaver and Glimmer left the room while Melog and Perfuma came in. Perfuma had snacks and flowers in tote,

“Mind if I sit with you?” She asks the pouting Catra.

“Sure...” Catra mumbled. 

“Have you eaten yet?” 

Perfuma asked already knowing the answer as she heard Catra’s stomach growl, so she handed over some food from the basket to Catra with a smile. They sat there in silence, Melog had been cuddled up to Catra more than usual, their fur was a red hue but Melog wasn’t hissing. 

“Catra, what’s going on?” Perfuma asked slowly, worried she’d be hitting a nerve.

Catra sighed, “Melog, I can’t hide my emotions anymore with you, can I?”

“I am afraid not, and you should not hide them anyways.” They snapped back quickly.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Perfuma turned to look at Catra.

As soon as Perfuma turned, something inside Catra clicked, gears in her head began to turn faster than before. She began to shake and could no longer hold in her anger and tears.

“This…This feels like my fault. I should have been there instead of leaving. She asked me to stay and I just...I LEFT…She would be perfectly fine right now and we could be all together, but I went a ruined that too!”

Perfuma let Catra continue, listening intently, no judgement passed in hopes of helping Catra feel comfortable enough to continue. 

“I should have gotten there faster; I should have fought by her side. I never should have even started this stupid war with her in the first place.”

Perfuma winced at the statement, she could feel the weight of Catra’s pain, and it was a heavy weight at that.

“Catra…No…you keep beating yourself down with these “I should have done this; I should have done that. How would Adora feel if she heard you say these things?” 

Catra paused, wide eyed, and thinking she’d probably yell how she never thought of it that way. Suddenly Catra was back on Darla, in her room staring at Adora after hearing her say “I never hated you.”  
__________  
As if on cue, Adora was listening to Catra’s words while staring at Prime. 

“Prime, whatever you did to me, I’m going to make sure you are gone once and for good.” Even though these words were coming out of her mouth, the dark room echoed with what her thoughts really were:  
Catra…no…please stop saying these things. I hate to see you in pain.

Prime laughed, “now my words on the ship don’t sound like a lie, do they? Look at all of the heart ache YOU caused, Adora. Things would not be this way if you had conceded to me.”

Adora suddenly felt a surge of emotion, “JUST GO AWAY,” as if on cue, Prime dissipated and suddenly Adora was in a cottage. Staring at Catra and some blond-haired child while they are having a picnic overlooking Plumeria. 

“Adora?” Catra said. “Are you okay? You've been zoned out for a while.”

Adora had a tear dripping from her face as she hugged Catra and the blond-haired child. “I’m okay. I was just remembering something.”  
____________

“Perfuma…What if this doesn't work?” Catra asked, grown nauseas over the thought of it.

“That's not something to worry about, because this will work.” Perfuma hugged Catra and then stood up, “want to go on a walk? Or shall I leave you be?” 

“I think I want to sit here a bit longer. Thanks for the food.” Catra sniffled, wiping tears away with a smile.

“You know where to find me if you need anything.” Perfuma said as she left. 

A while later Shadow Weaver came back in, “Oh, if you’re going to be in here then make yourself useful and help me grind these first ones items into dust.” Catra scoffed as she felt the bag of first ones items hit her head.

Instead of being snarky she just got up and helped. While it was really uncomfortable having Shadow Weaver standing next to her humming gods knows what song, Catra could only wonder what was going on in Adora’s head. 

Sadly, these thoughts were stopped by Shadow Weaver grabbing Catra’s hand, “we’ll be here forever if you keep grinding it so weakly.”

Catra hissed, “Do NOT touch me again. The last thing I need is you telling me how to do things.” 

Shadow Weaver scoffed, “I am trying to help save Adora and you’re just acting like the spoiled brat you've always been.”

“Well I wonder who made me this way?!” Catra snarled as she said these words. She could feel the anger rising from Shadow Weaver, but she remembered that she can’t do anything to her now,

“Catra, can you not be like this right now? We’ve had this discussion. You don't get a break since you’re like me.”

“I am NOTHING like you.” Catra slammed her hands on the table, the anger was burning in her stomach and rising to her throat now.

She turned to Shadow Weaver and got in her unmasked face. Catra used to be terrified of this look, but in this moment, it only reminded her of how weak Shadow Weaver really is. 

“I would never threaten to kill a child for being a child. I would never wipe someone’s mind just because they would remember something I didn’t like. I would never break the bones of someone I claim to be my child. I would never make someone feel so worthless for being themselves-“

Shadow Weavers eyes went wide, and she could see Catra’s fangs begin to show, she knew she was in trouble.

“Shadow Weaver, you should NEVER compare me to you. I have always been more successful than you, and it shows with everything I have now.”

Shadow Weaver could only stand and stare at Catra. She had no words, just a sigh. 

“Let’s just work,” Shadow Weaver said beginning to grind the first ones items up again.  
_____________

Adora had been in bliss. The scene before her was Finn and Catra smiling and laughing as they all ran through the fields of Plumeria together. Catra’s ponytail kept hitting Adora’s face, but she didn’t mind. 

Finally, it was nighttime and she and Catra had been lying in bed: “Everything is so perfect,” Adora said warmly as she cupped Catra’s cheek with her hand. 

“I wish it would stay like this forever,” Catra smiled back.

“It wi-“ suddenly Adora couldn’t breathe. The room turned to a dark green again. Catra was gone, and she was staring at the face of the beast that had poisoned her. Her body had been lined with green creeping up again. 

The pain had forced up a squeal from Adora as she suddenly collapsed and could no longer move. Her eyes shutting closed.

I’m so sorry, Catra…

Those words echoed in the darkness.  
__________  
Suddenly the monitor keeping track of Adora’s vitals was beeping rapidly, Catra turned quickly

“What’s happening to her?!” Catra asked panicking even more when she sees lines of green become darker through the ice.

“This isn’t good. We need to move quicker.” Shadow Weaver says.

Catra’s breath gets shaky, she feels the air grow thicker, almost as if she was being suffocated by Hordak’s atmosphere machine again.

Suddenly Glimmer runs into the room, Bow following behind her. Spinnerella and Netossa soon joined. 

“What’s going on Shadow Weaver? Why is it getting worse?” Glimmer asked frantically.

Suddenly Catra collapses to her knees: “This is it; this is really happening. Adora’s going to die and I can’t fix it.” Catra suddenly feels like she’s choking. 

Spinnerella runs over to Catra: “Breathe Catra” she says as she creates a ball of air for Catra to inhale.   
“We need to go to the ship now. There’s no way we can let this wait for a few more days.” Shadow Weaver says,

“That's perfect!” Entrapta says as she, Hordak, and Wrong Hordak walk into the room. “We just finished repairing the ship!”

“Alright then, all we need to get is the clone pod and bring it back here.” Shadow Weaver and Glimmer say in unison.

“I will stay here to watch Adora.” Shadow Weaver says.

Catra begins to panic even more, “hell no you won’t!” Catra coughed out.

Frosta ran in, “me and Micah will stay to watch her alright?” and for the first time Frosta reached out and put a hand on Catra’s shoulder, squeezing it to be sure to give Catra reassurance. 

“We’re going with you guys to Prime’s ship” Spinnerella said, Netossa nodding in affirmation.

“I want to go to space!” Entrapta yelled

“We need you to fly the ship and help us get the tech anyways.” Hordak says.

“Wait, Hordak is coming too?” Bow asks.

“I know that ship like the back of my hand” Hordak says with a smile on his face,

Glimmer walks over to see if Catra is alright, “Catra?” Glimmer wipes the tears from Catra’s face and cups her cheek in her hand. “Let’s go save Adora, okay?” She says with a smile.

Catra closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Standing up, she walks over to Adora: “Please just hang on a little longer Adora.”

Catra turns and nods at everyone standing behind her with a smile, “Let’s do this. Little frost, you better keep an eye on the old hag. If she does anything dumb, you hit her harder than you hit me, got it?”

Frosta smiled while she laughed, “Who you callin’ little?” 

“Don’t worry, I won’t let Shadow Weaver try anything.” Micah stepped into the room saying with confidence. 

Catra nodded. 

Everyone headed to the ship, and they were off for the last things they needed.  
____________  
“Please just hang on a little longer Adora.”

The words echoed in the dark area. 

Adora couldn’t open her eyes, but her thoughts echoed back:

“I'll always wait for you…”


	5. The Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one has alot of feelings in it with some fighting.
> 
> TW: PTSD

“SPACE SPACE SPACE!” Entrapta cooed while spinning around on her hair. “I AM SO EXCITED TO BE BACK.”

Catra couldn't help but giggle at how Entrapta had always been so excited about space, or really just anything. It used to annoy her, but now she found it soothing and endearing. This ship had reminded Catra of when Adora had stubbornly came to get her from Horde Prime’s ship. However, it also reminded her of all the time her and Adora spent in Catra’s room during their time in space.

They would talk for hours and just be. It was a pleasant reminder of the days when she and Adora would sleep in the same bed when they were both in the Horde. No moment had ever been more comforting than when Adora held her after getting her away from Prime. The warmth between them, the happiness Catra felt to just…be. It all came flooding back, but it was dampened by the pain of the thought of losing Adora.

Spinnerella noticed Catra was looking panicked, so she decided to intervene:

“Hey, Catra? Do you want to walk around the ship with me?” Spinnerella gave a supportive smile when she asked.

Catra looked up from the ground, not realizing she had even been zoning out, “Oh…yeah, okay.”

The duo left to walk about the ship, giving Glimmer a look of reassurance that Catra would be alright.

“So, Catra, are you feeling a little better after that panic attack earlier?” Spinnerella had been straight forward, and Catra was just glad she wasn’t beating around the bush like most people had been with her lately.

“Yeah, thanks, turns out the little air balls you produce are really useful,” Catra said with a slight chuckle.

“Well, I’m glad I can help you out. I know this situation isn’t easy for you.”

“It’s-it’s definitely something,” Catra had choked on those words because she was debating on whether to be her usual crass self, or to let it go. Spinnerella may not be Perfuma, but of everyone she knows, right now she’s the only one who can really relate to Catra since they both experienced being chipped.

“Catra, I don’t know if it would help you, but I usually like to talk about happy memories I have to distract from the moment. If you want to, I’m more than happy to listen.”

“Actually…That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“So, what’s one of your happiest moments?”

Catra paused to think for a second and giggled: “well, when I met Adora, I don’t remember too much about before, but I was sleeping in a box and she poked me with a stick. When I finally hissed at her she just looked at me with that big dumb smile of hers and said, ‘you’re adorable and I would like to bring you back with me to live because you shouldn’t have to sleep in a box.’ And from there she basically held me up in front of everyone we passed by and said, ‘this is Catra, this is Catra’ to everyone.”

Spinnerella started laughing, “That definitely sounds like Adora, and I can’t believe she gave you your name!”

Catra’s cheeks flushed a bit: “Yeah, but if its Adora, then I would have taken any name she gave me.”

“You must really love Adora, huh?” Spinnerella asked, but when Catra’s eyes widened and her cheeks turned a rosy red color she giggled, “I apologize, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot-“

“No, I just haven’t heard someone else say it before…You’re right though, I really _do love Adora._ ” Catra smiled to herself.

Spinnerella couldn’t help but smile widely at how Catra had been so open about how she was feeling. She stopped in front of Catra for a second and looked with a smile, “I just know that you and Adora are meant to be, and I want you to be reassured when I tell you we will get Adora back.”

Catra smiled, “Thanks, Spinnerella.”

They continued their walk around the ship when they stopped by the room Catra had slept in after getting out of Prime’s clutches.

“Do you want to go inside?” Spinnerella asked, almost shoving them into the room because she had known the answer already. It hadn’t been too long since they were in this room, Catra could still smell Adora’s scent in the air, the way Adora had kept checking on her when she was sleeping kept playing back in her mind.

“You know, when Adora had gotten me off of Prime’s ship…I didn’t have the guts to tell anyone that I had completely given up, and I had only gotten Glimmer out of there because I genuinely thought that everyone hated me.”

Spinnerella could only look at Catra with intent to listen to every word.

“I did so many horrible things to all of you, and I will never understand how any of you are okay with me-“

“Okay before we go down this hole, I need you to know and remember something very, very important.” Spinerella’s voice was stern, but it caught Catra’s attention and she sat and listened intently.

“You did some bad things in your past, but it’s your past for a reason. I would be more concerned if you had stayed with Prime willingly after Adora rescued you. Catra, you need to know that people changing IS possible. You changing IS possible. If you just work on yourself and work to patch the relationships that have tension because of your actions, then you’ll be okay. But I do want to point out to you that everyone who seems to have been hurt by you, at least the one’s on this ship, forgive you. I think it’s time to work on forgiving yourself.”

Catra couldn’t fight back the tears from hearing the words come from Spinnerella’s mouth. She was right, she had been working on her relationships with Glimmer, Scorpia, everyone.

_Maybe it really is time to forgive myself….or at least to start forgiving myself._ Catra sat there thinking to herself wanting to thank Adora for being the reason for getting her this far, and then Spinnerella added, “And by the way Catra, this work to mend relationships…YOU did this. YOU changed for the better. So, cut yourself some slack.”

It hit Catra that while Adora helped make this possible, Catra herself was the one to go the entire way to fix things. Realizing this, Catra slammed into Spinnerella, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you…” Catra said this through tears to Spinnerella, and in return Spinnerella just silently hugged her back.

___________________

It had only been a few hours, but the time to get to the ship felt like an eternity. The tree in space finally came into view, and Entrapta was awe struck.

“A TREE IN SPACE! She-Ra’s powers really are amazing. I can’t wait to take samples!” Entrapta squealed these while shaking Hordak violently back and forth. Catra couldn’t help but giggle at this side of Hordak letting someone shake him and talk to him the way Entrapta does, but it seemed somewhat endearing.

“Alright everyone, Wrong Hordak and Hordak are going to take the lead in case the other clones are still around and become hostile.” Glimmer says sternly looking specifically at Entrapta as a sign that she cannot go explore the place.

“Our goal is to grab one of the pods that Lord Prime normally would keep his past bodies in. It’s very deep in the ship, so just make sure you all stick close because this place is essentially a maze.” Hordak informed everyone and was hoping this would go smoothly so they could get in and out.

Their ship had passed the outside tree shaped ship to doc in an area that was basically just like an abandoned village. The ship was intact, but there were roots and tree branches everywhere. Catra couldn’t help but feel like they were back on Krytis. Catra looked down at her tail, and it had puffed up again. However, before she could flatten it, Spinnerella’s hand met her shoulder.

“It’s okay, I’m feeling anxious too. I was never here but being chipped meant I was connected to everyone too.” Spinnerella squeezed Catra’s shoulder and this sent a wave of calm over her body.

“You’re right. We’ll be okay.” Catra said with a smile.

“Are you two doing okay?” Netossa walked over, “Let me know if you need to hang back for a second and I’ll stay with the both of you.”

“It’s alright darling, I’ll be okay.” Spinnerella wrapped an arm around Netossa’s waist to reassure her.

“I’ll be alright, too. Thanks.” Catra said.

After catching up with the group, Catra had noticed the ship was pretty barren, but Entrapta beat her to asking where they all went.

“The clones have a protocol to return to a beacon where they regroup and usually pick a new leader, but I don’t think that they will be picking someone new.” Wrong Hordak had chimed in and turned back to wink with a smile.

He never did know when the correct time was to do that, but in this moment Catra was comforted by it.

The team walked through the corridors to find the control room that Glimmer had destroyed with the staff she stole from Prime. Glimmer, Bow, and Entrapta looked at each other and began to giggle.

“I still wish I could have gotten more data, but now I think I am just going to keep taking samples!” Entrapta said this while revealing a small compartment in her hair that held the items she had been grabbing.

“Is that a good idea?” Netossa asked.

“If Prime is gone, and the clones are as well, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Bow said with a nervous chuckle.

They passed another room. One that was all too familiar to Hordak, Wrong Hordak, and Catra. The menacing green glow of the room was even worse now with the tree in there. Catra couldn’t help but freeze, a cold sweat started beating down her back.

“OHHHHHHHH, WHAT’S THE GREEN STUFF?!?!” Entrapta had been incredibly fascinated.

“Entrapta, that vat was used to essentially torture the clones and Catra to wipe their memory and chip them.” Hordak had a flattened tone, almost as if he was going to be sick saying it.

Hearing those words made Entrapta stop and turn to Catra. Instead of her usual response to take a sample for research she slammed into Catra to hug her. This was shocking to Catra at first, but the way Entrapta was hugging her sent a warmth over here that stopped the anxiety that was bubbling in her stomach. Then Catra wrapped her arms around Entrapta.

“I’m okay, Entrapta.” Catra said softly to her.

“I know we had our rough times and I’ve already forgiven you for what happened. I just wanted to say that I am here for you because you are my friend.” Entrapta had backed away to smile and pat Catra’s head with her hair. Catra only smiled.

_____________

The group had made it to the corridor that was basically a prison, Glimmer remembered because this was where her room had been when she was forced to stay here.

“The pods are going to be in the next corridor, we’ll be in and out soon.” Hordak says triumphantly.

Suddenly two clones had appeared in front of the corridor they were ready to enter.

“Brother, what are you doing with these Etherians? Where is Prime?” One of the clones asked.

“You don't know?” Hordak asked.

“Brothers, Prime is gone, and we are free. Leave here and live your lives as your own.” Wrong Hordak had said this with a smile that was quickly wiped away by the other clone picking him up and tossing him.

The two clones had pulled out weapons and charged at the group. Glimmer quickly teleported behind one of them but was surprised when the staff the clone was holding slammed into her chest. She fell to the ground, winded. The clone picked Glimmer up and threw her, and she went flying down the other side of the corridor.

Glimmer hit the wall really hard and slowly her eyes fell shut.

“…mmer…?” “Glim…ar…okay?” “GLIMMER?” a voice kept yelling at her, and Glimmer’s eyes shot open.

Looking around, she remembers she was thrown down the corridor, but where was that voice coming from?

“Glimmer?” The voice was warm and familiar, and when Glimmer turned to face the voice, tears streamed down her eyes.

____________

Catra had slammed the chips on the clones again to knock them out.

“Type them up. We need to check on Glimmer!” Bow yelled as he ran down the corridor.

Netoosa emitted her nets to tie both the clones up, and once they woke up, Hordak began to question the clones.

“Why are you still here? I thought you would have retreated by now?”

“We had explicit orders to stay behind and wait for the She-ra girl to be brought here, but you all showed up instead.” The first clone had been smug in the answer, a bit of attitude in it and Netossa was being held back by Spinnerella.

Spinnerella finally got angry about it and asked at a dull roar “Why are you waiting for She-ra, Prime is gone, you need to leave.”

The second clone laughed “Prime isn’t gone, I can guarantee that.”

Hordak knocked them out before they could say more.

_____________

Glimmer had tears running down her face when she turned to look at the voice calling to her from the cell it was in.

“Glimmer…It really is you.” The voice said.

“I-“ and before Glimmer could say anything Catra and Bow had found her. Bow wrapped her in a big hug and asked if she was okay.

“Yes Bow, I’m okay” Glimmer said while laughing.

Catra’s jaw had dropped when she saw who it was sitting in the cell.

Bow turned around, and his jaw dropped along with Catra’s while Glimmer walked up to the cell to open it.

“Glimmer, my darling I missed you!” Queen Angella had swooped Glimmer up into her arms, “Look at how grown you are! And you even look like a queen!” Angella said this while choking back tears.

“Bow, are we seeing things?” Catra asked.

“Uh, no, I-I don’t think so.” Bow replied.

“Bow, I see you have taken good care of my Glimmer, thank you so much.” Angella swooped Bow into a hug, and when she noticed Catra she put him down and walked over to her.

Catra had closed her eyes and braced herself to be slapped, but instead she was met with Angella’s hand cupping her cheek.

“I assume you’re on our side now?” Angella said this with a warm smile on her face and all Catra could do was open her mouth. No words came out, she felt a warm pain creep into her throat. Catra didn’t know what to say and Angella knew that, so she embraced Catra in the softest hug that Catra had ever experienced.

Somehow this made all of the pain and mistakes Catra had ever made go away, and she began to sob in Angella’s arms sobbing “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” was all Catra could say.

Glimmer and Bow joined in on the hug.

“Mom, how did you survive that portal?” Glimmer asked as they walked back to meet the others in the group.

“All I remember is waking up being dragged by some grey and white person,” Angella’s eyes widen when she sees everyone, but before she can give them a greeting, she points at the clones in the nets, “like those two.”

“ANGELLA,” the group yelled in unison and ran to her to hug her, everyone had been crying at the reunion.

“Which one of you let her out? Prime isn’t going to be happy about this.” One of the clones cooed.

Glimmer had her staff appear and drew a truth spell on the two clones: “How did my mother become Prime’s prisoner?”

Clone two responded first: “We had been traveling to look for your ship when you escaped with the cat, and we had ended up stumbling on a portal to which this woman manifested from. We assumed she got sent to the wrong area, so Prime wanted to keep and question why she wasn’t with the other people on other inhabited planets we conquered.”

“That’s…I guess Prime did ONE good thing.” Glimmer said

The group had decided to leave the clones tied up while Entrapta and Hordak went to get the pod. Luckily Hordak had the same strength as She-Ra because he carried the pod out like it was nothing. The group made It back to the ship and went back home.

______________

“Mom, I have quite the surprise for you.” Glimmer said as they were walking into the chamber where Adora was held.

“Welcome back baby gir-“ Micah paused when he turned around. His eyes widened, pupils dilatated, and tears began to drip down his face.

Angella dropped to her knees out of shock, “Micah?!” She choked out through tears as he kneeled down in front of her.

Micah wiped her tears and smiled, “Welcome home, my love.” They both hugged each other tightly and cried even harder when Glimmer joined them.

Catra’s heart warmed at the scene, and she walked over to Frosta, “Everything go okay over here?”

“She’s been mostly stable for the past hour now. We really do need to get everything prepped though.” Frosta said while walking away.

Catra looked at Adora, the green lines on her face had gotten worse, and it made Catra nauseous, but she choked it back.

“Let’s get this show on the road Shadow Weaver, we need to save Adora already,” Catra and Glimmer said this in unison.

Everything was finally set, and Catra was happy that things were finally going to go back to normal.

“Alright Adora, we’re coming to get you.” Catra whispered as she smiled at the ice block.

Everything was set and ready to go, and Shadow Weaver finally preformed the ritual.

“We need to give it a few hours to finish working, and then she’ll be okay.” Shadow Weaver said laying Adora on a bed in the medic bay.

Catra decided she would be there when Adora woke up and grabbed her hand that was finally clean of the green lines: “I’ll see you soon Adora.”


	6. Things GOne Awry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken me so long to get a new chapter out. Things have been busy, but I do plan to finish this so I hope ya'll enjoy it!
> 
> TW: 
> 
> Fighting, verbal abuse, death

Bright lights finally circle the dark area where Adora had been, and this time she could finally see her own body again. “I’ll see you soon, Adora,” Catra’s voice had been echoing though this space. The green areas on Adora’s body had been slowly disappearing as well as the burning pain. All she needed to do was open her eyes, right?

_You won’t be opening your eyes, Adora. I will be taking over this vessel and you will be gone._

Those words had been whispered right into her ear.

Turning in shock, it was Prime sitting in front of her.

“You wish, Prime. What makes you think you’ll be able to take over my body?” Adora glared at Prime who only seemed to giggle at her words.

“I have the advantage here, Adora,” Prime’s words felt like poison, “to be truthful, I was able to retreat and use my left-over ability to come into your mind.”

Suddenly Prime’s visage changed to reveal partially healed claw marks across his neck. Those claw marks, Catra should have killed him, but somehow, he was able to make it through. Prime had a sinister smile when he reached down and pulled Adora up by her throat. Struggling, Adora tried to reach for her sword but only found an empty space where the sword used to be.

“They may have cleaned up the poison but you’re still out of commission as She-Ra. No one can help you here,” Prime cackled while tightening his grip. Adora was about to slip into unconsciousness when she heard Catra yelling.

“Shadow Weaver what the hell! You said it would take a couple of hours, not a couple of days!” Catra was holding Adora’s hand while she listened to Glimmer yell at Shadow Weaver. Catra was upset too, but she felt it was better to sit with Adora than to waste her time on the old hag.

“Some people need time to recover after poison like that, and I said it wasn't a guarantee.” Shadow Weaver scoffed and tried walking away but was tackled to the ground.

Catra really tried to only focus on Adora, but to hear those words-

“THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU SAID!!” Catra yelled right into Shadow Weaver’s ear. “You said it would work, that she would be fine!” Tears began running down Catra’s face. Meanwhile, Shadow Weaver looked over at Adora with a look that almost seemed worried… _almost._

Shadow Weaver sprung up and pushed Catra into a wall, “You really are getting on my nerves you waste of space.” Catra could feel Shadow Weaver gripping her throat tighter, and she tried to scratch at Shadow Weaver but couldn’t reach her. Glimmer decided to step in and hit Shadow Weaver with a ball of magic, only for it to knock Shadow Weaver to the side with Catra in tow.

“Let Catra go. NOW!” Glimmer yelled. Suddenly Micah and Angella showed up.

“What is going-“ Angella was stopped by sudden shadows wrapping around her and hoisting her up in the air.

“I will kill Angella if you all don’t back away from me,” Shadow Weaver said while also still holding Catra.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Catra choked out.

“Oh, but I would. Threatening me for someone’s response to a poison is not going to get us anywhere.” Shadow Weaver glared at Catra and then put them both down to leave the room.

Glimmer ran to Catra as Micah ran to Angella. They were both okay, but Catra decided to swat Glimmer’s hand away and sit back next to Adora.

“You can’t get away with this,” Adora choked out.

“Oh, but I will. Especially since no one can save you in here.” Prime replied while again tightening his grip.

Adora finally pulled her hand up to Prime’s face and slammed a finger into one of his eyes. Prime groaned and released Adora. Now free, Adora decided to run in a new direction that had suddenly changed to become the Fright Zone. Adora scanned the room, looking for something to fight Prime with when her eyes landed on a spear that she would use during training.

“This will work just fine” Adora said to herself while finding a crate to hide behind.

Shortly after hiding, Adora heard the loud thumping of Prime’s shoes on the ground getting closer to her. Suddenly she can hear Catra’s voice echoing through her head again.

“Please Adora…Please wake up…I…I need you.” Catra choked out through tears.

“I promise I’ll be better; I’ll get along with everyone, and I’ll even stop being so stubborn. Just…Please come back to me.” Catra continued to cry.

“You realize pleading isn’t going to do anything right?” The venomous voice that hit Catra’s ears made her fur stand on end and her tail puff up.

“Shadow Weaver, what do you want now?” Catra grumbled.

“I just came to check on Adora, but of course you’re tied up to her again.” Shadow Weaver said in a stern voice that only irritated Catra more than she was earlier.

“Check away, but I’m staying here because I don’t trust you.” Catra snapped back.

“Fine then.” Shadow Weaver said uninterested in Catra’s actions.

Catra tracked Shadow Weaver’s every move around the room. From the vital monitors to checking the places on Adora that had venom. Shadow Weaver looked up at Catra annoyed.

“Are you going to just act like this every time I am here?” Shadow Weaver asked.

“Yeah, got a problem with it?” Catra Said.

“Yes, I do, seeing as this is your fault.” Shadow Weaver sounded stern when she said this.

“Oh Adora, come out and face your demise with dignity. Playing hide and seek will get you nowhere,” Prime said tauntingly as he inched closer and closer to the crate Adora was hiding behind.

“Please. It will make everything easier.” Prime said again stopping at the crate Adora had been right behind.

“In your dreams” Adora growled as she jumped up and hit Prime with the spear.

Prime stumbled forward grabbing his head where the spear hit him.

“Wow, had you hit me hard enough that may have worked,” Prime chuckled tauntingly. “My turn to hit back,” Prime said as he swung his fist for Adora. She ducked and tackled Prime onto the ground. However, this proved to be a bad idea because Prime had wrapped his legs around Adora and slammed her down to the ground, switching the fight to his advantage.

Prime wrapped his hands around Adora’s throat again, slowly squeezing harder until Adora could barely breathe. She had been seeing spots for a few seconds now and couldn’t hold on.

Adora passed out, and Prime threw her over his shoulder to bring her back to the area they had begun at.

Catra blinked twice, “Do you want to say that again? I don't think I heard you properly.” Catra growled at Shadow Weaver again.

“Of course, you aren’t paying attention, that's why Adora left in the first place and why she’s in this situation right now.” Shadow weaver’s words hit Catra like a knife, and before she knew it, she had lunged at Shadow Weaver again.

Dodging Catra, Shadow Weaver used magic to catch Catra and throw her to the ground. In return Catra had sliced Shadow Weaver’s face like she had done days before.

“Aww, aren't you happy you have a scar to match the other one now?” Catra said tauntingly.

“YOU INSOLENT-“ Shadow Weaver yelled and instead took Catra and slammed her into the wall yet again.

Adora’s eyes flickered open, trapped yet again in the empty room, but this time Prime was standing over here with some type of book reading something.

“You aren’t going to win, Prime.” Adora said.

“Oh, but I already have. You see, I am almost done taking over your body. All that’s left is me killing you here.” Prime said with a wicked smile on his face.

Prime suddenly reached down and picked up Adora’s sword. “Hahahaha, what better way to kill you than with your own weapon!” Prime said.

Adora began to panic a bit when she heard Catra and Shadow Weaver’s voices echo through the space.

“If I kill you here and Adora wakes up, I can just say that the poison effects wearing off put her in a frenzy, and no one would be the wiser.” Shadow Weaver tightened her grip around Catra’s neck while grabbing a dagger from her cloak.

“Don’t you dare.” Catra choked the words out.

“There’s nothing stopping me. Not even your friend’s” Shadow Weaver said.

Suddenly, Catra’s eyes slowly got heavier, and she released her grip from Shadow Weaver.

Suddenly Adora felt a rush of adrenaline and anger rush through her. Prime was about to drive She-Ra’s sword into Adora when her eyes began to glow blue again.

Prime took a step back, “NO! This can’t be possible! The poison should have had a permanent effect.”

Suddenly enveloped in light, the binds holding Adora broke in half, and She-Ra’s form came into view once the light dissipated.

Prime lunged at her with the sword, but She-Ra caught Prime and took her sword back. She pushed Prime into the restraints and used her healing magic to destroy Prime.

“It’s over, you lost.” She-ra says angrily.

Prime dissipated into the light and suddenly Adora felt calm.

Catra couldn’t hold on any longer, she was ready to close her eyes and Shadow Weaver began speaking again: “Do you have any last—”

Stopping mid-sentence, Shadow Weaver looked down to see She-Ra’s sword piercing through her chest.

“I think it’s time for you to stop terrorizing Catra.” She-ra said angrily. Suddenly Shadow Weaver had been enveloped by a bright light, and Catra had fallen to the floor. Once the light was gone, the room suddenly was full of people: Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, Seahawk, Netossa, Spinnerella, Frosta, Scorpia, Prefuma, Micah, and Angella all standing there in shock at the sight of She-Ra. Shadow Weaver was gone, “I killed her,” She-ra blurted out.

She-Ra walked over to Catra, kneeled down and healed Catra. Everyone was still in shock and just watched as Catra began to slowly open her eyes.


End file.
